At Globexa Immigration, we understand that applying for a Canada study visa with your entire family requires more patience and more funds. If you are already married and have young children, there is no point leaving them behind. In that situation, you have to apply for your Canada study visa along with your entire family.
The strategy is simple but not easy to follow. You require more patience and more funds, but if you have both, ultimately you can travel to Canada along with your entire family.
1. Wasim's Canada Study Visa With His Entire Family
Wasim recently got his Canada study visa with his entire family. Earlier, the study visa was being pursued through his wife, who had a really good profile. A few months back, Wasim got admission into a PhD program, so the strategy was changed.
The PhD study visa was submitted for Wasim, along with applications for his wife and children. In the first attempt with this strategy, Wasim got his study visa, his wife got a spouse open work permit, and the children got study visas and a visitor visa depending upon their age.
Wasim got his study visa approval on 28 July 2026. His stamping was under process, and he was expected to travel to Canada in August. He got admission to Ontario Tech University for a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, which he was going to start in September.
2. Why Study Visa Became the Option
For many people, study visa becomes the only way to reach Canada.
Even if your age is 40, 42, 45 or 50 and you aren’t willing to study at this age, there may be no other option to reach Canada. LMIA may not be working, direct PR may not be working, and in many cases you may require French B2 level to get PR from outside Canada.
If you aren’t able to get a direct work permit through LMIA or intra-company transfer and you aren’t able to do French for PR from outside Canada, study visa becomes the option left to reach Canada and get your PR.
3. Multiple Refusals and Changing the Strategy
The family had a long history of refusals. The process had started in the previous year when the family was applying through the wife, Shaista. There were multiple refusals: one in May 2025, another in July, another in September, and another in October.
They were ready to apply again for Shaista, but meanwhile Wasim got admission in PhD. The strategy was changed and the study visa application was submitted for Wasim instead.
When you are applying with your entire family, you require a lot of patience. Some people get approval on their first attempt. There have also been cases where the entire family applied together and received visas in the first attempt.
However, even if everything is perfect, you can still receive a refusal. You can receive another refusal, another refusal and another refusal. Ultimately, the string of refusals is going to break somewhere, but you don’t know when it is going to happen.
Whenever there is going to be a proper assessment of the application, you can get approval, but before that you may require to apply multiple times for your visas.
4. What to Do After a Refusal
If you have already started the process and have applied for your study visa once, most of the efforts are already done. You may only need to upgrade your documents a little bit.
If the CA report is old, you can update it. Your salary account statement and salary slips can also be updated, along with your financial documents. After updating your financial documents, you can reapply.
You don’t necessarily require major changes in the application.
If your program is right, university is right, first year of fee is paid, GIC is paid, enough funds are shown for the family and your English test score is right, then you can keep reapplying.
If all these things are right, just keep on reapplying. Ultimately, you are going to get your visa.
5. Wasim's Educational and Professional Background
Wasim is working in the AI domain and is working in the manufacturing domain, where he applies AI-related things in manufacturing.
His PhD is in Mechanical Engineering, where he is also going to apply AI-related things in the mechanical domain. His entire profile is related to IT and AI.
He is currently working in Pune and is earning really well. He is a lead scientist and is leading his department. His experience includes lead engineer work in AI and data science.
Wasim completed his Master of Technology from IIT Bombay.
6. PhD Admission and Research Background
Many people believe that completing a master’s degree is enough to get PhD admission outside. That doesn’t happen automatically.
If you don’t have a research background, extensive experience and the right educational background from a big institute, your emails can be ignored by professors outside.
If your education isn’t from a really strong university, you should at least have research publications. If you have one, two, three or five publications, that can become your research background.
Having two, three, four or five publications can make it easier for a professor to at least take an interview.
There are crores of students in India who have completed master’s degrees. Not everyone is going to get PhD admission outside in a big university in a big country.
If you are willing to try for PhD admission, you need to have the right background. If you simply want to draft an email and send it everywhere, you can do that, but without a strong profile, you aren’t going to get replies in most cases.
7. PhD Stipend and Family Earnings
Wasim got admission in Doctor of Philosophy, PhD in Mechanical Engineering.
He is going to receive a stipend of around $26,000, which is more than $2,000 per month. Along with the stipend, he can work part-time for 24 hours per week.
If he gets a job somewhere, he can do that, including an AI-related job.
His wife can work full-time and can potentially earn $3,000, $4,000 or $5,000 depending on how she applies herself in Canada.
The family requires approximately $4,000 to live a decent life in Canada with a car and other expenses. If the wife is earning $2,000 and Wasim is earning $2,000, that is more than enough for the survival of the entire family.
8. Children's Applications and Their Status
The youngest child received approval for a visitor visa.
If the age of the child is less than four, ideally a visitor visa can be applied for. A visitor visa doesn’t mean that the child has to stay for only six months and then leave Canada. The child can stay in Canada for the entire duration of the parents’ stay.
A direct study permit can also be applied for, but usually, when the age is below four, a visitor visa is applied for.
Even if the child is going to cross the age of four, the child can study on visitor visa as well.
9. English Test and Application Profile
Wasim’s PTE score was also good. A score of 60 in all modules in PTE is described as a good enough score for the visa application.
For IELTS, the requirement discussed is 6 in all modules.
Wasim was meeting this criteria as well.
Initially, the application was being submitted through Shaista, with Shaista as the primary applicant. Wasim was going to Canada on a spouse open work permit because he had good potential to earn there.
However, that strategy did not work during the previous year. When Wasim received admission to the PhD program, the strategy was changed. The study visa application was submitted for Wasim, while Shaista applied for a spouse open work permit.
10. Financial Capacity for a Family of Five
The family consists of five people, so the financial capacity needs to cover the entire family. The first requirement is the first year of tuition fee.
Whatever the tuition fee is—$5,000, $10,000, $20,000 or $50,000—the first year of tuition fee should be paid. In most cases, the tuition fee discussed is around $17,000 to $20,000 Canadian dollars. This is the real expense because this is the money that remains with the university or college.
In the case of a PhD, the tuition fee can be zero, so that amount can be ignored.
11. $50,000 for Living Expenses
After the tuition fee, the next amount is the living expense or show money.
For the student, the amount discussed is $23,000 Canadian dollars through GIC. For the second family member, which in this case is the wife, approximately $6,000 is added.
For every remaining family member, approximately $7,000 is added.
For a family of five, this brings the total show money to approximately $50,000 Canadian dollars.
The $50,000 can be sent to Canada or shown in the home country or anywhere in the world. The important point is that the money should be available with the husband or wife.
The funds can be in savings accounts, fixed deposits or GIC.
12. Planning for the Second Year of Tuition Fee
Along with the required living expenses, it is useful to show more liquid funds to pay future tuition fees.
For example, if you are going for a master’s degree and your second-year tuition fee is around $20,000, you need to justify how you are going to pay that second-year tuition fee.
There are three things that can be combined to justify the second-year tuition fee: parents’ income, savings and a loan.
One way to justify the second-year tuition fee is through the parents’ income. Parents’ ITR can be provided to show their earnings.
The example discussed is that if the parents are earning around 10 lakh rupees each, the income of four parents can be shown as approximately 40 lakh rupees. If only two parents are available, approximately 20 lakh rupees can be shown.
The second option is savings and other available funds. You may have 5 lakh, 7 lakh or 10 lakh rupees in savings. You may also have PF or FD.
Stocks and mutual funds can also be part of the available financial position discussed.
The third option is a loan. You can show that you have already taken a loan for the second-year tuition fee and that the loan will be used to pay the tuition fee.
13. Using the GIC After Landing in Canada
The GIC doesn’t need to remain untouched for one year.
After landing in Canada, the money can be taken back into the account.
In this case, there were two GICs, one in the husband’s name and one in the wife’s name. Together, they had the required amount of approximately $50,000.
The approach discussed is to save the GIC and try to survive through your own earnings during the study period.
If the husband receives a stipend and the wife works full-time, their earnings can be used for their survival in Canada.
The GIC can then remain available for future expenses. It can potentially be used later for buying a home, paying the second year of tuition fee or buying a car.
14. Parents' ITR and Future Financial Support
Parents’ ITR can help in the study visa application. It can also help in visitor visa and Super Visa applications.
The recommendation discussed is to always fill the parents’ ITR and continue filling it.
The income shown through the ITR can be used as part of the explanation for how future expenses can be managed.
15. The Family's Financial Position
The family had two GICs, one in the husband’s name and one in the wife’s name. They also had more liquid funds.
Wasim had a scholarship or stipend, which provided fixed earnings.
The GIC provided the required living expenses for the family of five.
The combination of the scholarship, GIC and additional liquid funds provided the financial position for the application.
16. Planning for PR After Reaching Canada
During the period when Wasim is completing his PhD, his wife can also work towards PR using Canadian experience through Express Entry under Canadian Experience Class or through Ontario PNP.
Both options can therefore be available to the wife for getting PR in Canada.
By following the right path, the family can ultimately work towards getting their PR.
17. Don't Give Up After Multiple Refusals
When you are applying with your entire family, you require a lot of patience.
Some people get approval on their first attempt. There have also been cases where the entire family applied together and received visas in the first attempt.
However, even if everything is perfect, you can still receive a refusal. You can receive another refusal, another refusal and another refusal.
Ultimately, the string of refusals is going to break somewhere, but you don’t know when it is going to happen.
If you have already started the process and have applied for your study visa once, most of the efforts are already done. You may only need to upgrade your documents a little bit.
If the CA report is old, you can update it. Your salary account statement and salary slips can also be updated, along with your financial documents.
After updating your financial documents, you can reapply. You don’t necessarily require major changes in the application.
18. Study Visa as the Pathway to Canada
People are trying to attract applicants toward direct Canada PR through PNP even when they may not actually be eligible.
The concern discussed is that applicants may be given a two-year plan, pay ₹2 lakh or ₹3 lakh and eventually waste both their time and money.
If the direct PR option isn’t going to work, paying a large amount simply because someone says it is possible can result in a very bad experience.
If you are willing to go to Canada and settle there, study visa is described as the straightforward legal method discussed in the case.
Other pathways may not work for many people. If LMIA isn’t working, intra-company transfer isn’t available, direct PR isn’t working and French B2 isn’t possible, study visa remains the option discussed for reaching Canada.
The entire family can proceed together when the application is structured properly.
Conclusion
At Globexa Immigration, the focus is on the right strategy, patience and proper financial preparation when applying for a Canada study visa with the entire family.
This case involved multiple refusals, a change in the primary applicant, PhD admission, a spouse open work permit, children’s applications, GIC, liquid funds, parents’ ITR and planning for future tuition fees.
The family continued with the process, changed the strategy when the PhD admission became available and ultimately received approval for the entire family.
